RSS
New Netflix Holocaust Series Shines Bright Light During a Dark Time
A bartender must give up the location of a blind girl who is making illegal radio broadcasts, or be shot in 10 seconds. It’s 1944, and the Nazis know they are losing the war in a new Netflix miniseries All The Light We Cannot See. As the Nazi, Lars Eidinger (Reinhold von Rumpel) appears to be impersonating Christoph Waltz’s Oscar winning role in Inglourious Basterds.
In the French Saint-Malo, Marie (Aria Mia Loberti) is a blind girl who risks her life to transmit radio messages. She reads the novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Seas, but, as instructed by her uncle Etienne (Hugh Laurie), it serves as codes to help the Allied bombers. Mark Ruffalo plays her father, Daniel. Werner Pfennig (Louis Hofmann) hears the girl’s broadcast, and is assigned to find her.
The cinematography gives the needed foreboding feeling, and Loberti is fantastic as Marie. She is legally blind, and it’s hard to believe this was her first role, and that she’d never even auditioned for anything before.
Von Rumpel is trying to track down a piece of jewelry called the Sea of Flames, and he’s willing to kill for it. Meanwhile, Marie’s father warns her about the danger of the jewelry, and a curse associated with it.
Ruffalo delivers a slightly above average performance, while Hofmann and Loberti’s acting styles are natural and unforced.
In a flashback scene where she says goodbye to Werner as he joins the Nazis, Luna Wedler is excellent as Jutta, his sister, who warns him not to be impressed or convinced by them. Ed Skrein is fantastic as Herr Siedler, and deserved more screen time. Hugh Laurie does a fine job as Etienne, who has a dramatic life saving moment.
A number of scenes lack tension, including one in a bakery and one with someone being tortured, as we have no doubt what his decision will be.
The fourth and final episode is the strongest, in which Reinhold asks Daniel: “Is pain stronger than love?”
Though some of the writing is stilted, a line delivered by an unlikely hero is brilliant. The series lacks action or much character development, but it gets better as it goes on. The plot is simple and there are few surprises. It is beautifully shot but lacks meaningful music, though the flashbacks are well done and are not disruptive. The symbolism is a bit too on the nose.
Though there are some cliches, the series is worth watching for the acting of Loberti and the inspiring story of good vs. evil. Based on the book by Anthony Doerr, it is an intriguing tale of resistance, and the series adaptation could have been brilliant with a few touches to make the plot and the characters richer.
If you’re a fan of World War II related stories and can be satiated with only a few action scenes, you will enjoy the series.
The author is a writer based in New York.
The post New Netflix Holocaust Series Shines Bright Light During a Dark Time first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire
Members of the Security Council cast a vote during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
The U.N. Security Council met on Sunday to discuss US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East.
It was not immediately clear when it could be put to a vote. The three countries circulated the draft text, said diplomats, and asked members to share their comments by Monday evening. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to pass.
The US is likely to oppose the draft resolution, seen by Reuters, which also condemns attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites and facilities. The text does not name the United States or Israel.
“The bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States marks a perilous turn in a region that is already reeling,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Sunday. “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”
“We must act – immediately and decisively – to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear program,” Guterres said.
The world awaited Iran’s response on Sunday after President Donald Trump said the US had “obliterated” Tehran’s key nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that while craters were visible at Iran’s enrichment site buried into a mountain at Fordow, “no one – including the IAEA – is in a position to assess the underground damage.”
Grossi said entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit at Iran’s sprawling Isfahan nuclear complex, while the fuel enrichment plant at Natanz has been struck again.
“Iran has informed the IAEA there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at all three sites,” said Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran requested the U.N. Security Council meeting, calling on the 15-member body “to address this blatant and unlawful act of aggression, to condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Israel‘s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement on Sunday that the U.S. and Israel “do not deserve any condemnation, but rather an expression of appreciation and gratitude for making the world a safer place.”
Danon told reporters before the council meeting that it was still early when it came to assessing the impact of the U.S. strikes. When asked if Israel was pursuing regime change in Iran, Danon said: “That’s for the Iranian people to decide, not for us.”
The post UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting
FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Israel has rejected a European Union report saying it may be breaching human rights obligations in Gaza and the West Bank as a “moral and methodological failure,” according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.
The note, sent to EU officials ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, said the report by the bloc’s diplomatic service failed to consider Israel’s challenges and was based on inaccurate information.
“The Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel rejects the document … and finds it to be a complete moral and methodological failure,” the note said, adding that it should be dismissed entirely.
The post Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’
FILE PHOTO: Pope Leo XIV holds a Jubilee audience on the occasion of the Jubilee of Sport, at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican June 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo
Pope Leo on Sunday said the international community must strive to avoid war that risks opening an “irreparable abyss,” and that diplomacy should take the place of conflict.
US forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites overnight, joining an Israeli assault in a major new escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself.
“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” Pope Leo said during his weekly prayer with pilgrims.
“No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future. Let diplomacy silence the weapons, let nations chart their future with peace efforts, not with violence and bloody conflicts,” he added.
“In this dramatic scenario, which includes Israel and Palestine, the daily suffering of the population, especially in Gaza and other territories, risks being forgotten, where the need for adequate humanitarian support is becoming increasingly urgent,” Pope Leo said.
The post Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.